MINUTES OF VALA DIRECTORS' MEETING
Nov 7, 2007
The meeting was called to order
by President Galen Mudgett with 39 present as follows:
NAME TOWN/ORGANIZATION
Louise Ferris-Burt Bethel
Todd LeBlanc So. Burlington Chittenden
Pat French Randolph Orange
Doug Harvey Cabot Washington
Carlton Domey Cabot Washington
Ed Clodfelter Calais
Pauline Moore Manchester
Joyce Scribner Manchester
Bill Tobin PVR
Charles Mason Pawlett Rutland
Howard Burgess Rutland Rutland
Chris Miele NEMRC
Randy Viens Essex Chittenden
Robert L Sanborn Chelsea Orange
Amanda Beaulieu Newbury Orange
Heidi Johnson Barnard Windsor
Alexis "Bill" Parent Richmond Chittende
Judie Lewis Tunbridge Orange
Paul Wildair Woodstock
Lisa Truchon Lincoln Addison
Phyllis Newton Vernon Windham
John Wetzel Fairlee Orange
Carolyn Kinney Poultney Rutland
Ted Donlon Greensboro
Valdine Hall Greensboro Orleans
Cheryl Tudhope Orwell Addison
Angie Abbatello Shaftsbury
Elaine Coonradt Shaftsbury
John Trombley Topsham Orange
Pat Plaisted Topsham Orange
Camilla Roberts Rockingham
Al Jerard Brattleboro
Lois Sippel Athens Windham
Lois P Trenn Benson Rutland
Tom Vickery Stowe Lamoille
John Vickery Burlington
Galen Mudgett, Jr Sharon Windsor
Carol Hammond Vernon Windham
A motion was made by Pauline to accept the minutes of both the September 5th regular meeting and the September 14th, 2007 Annual Meeting. The motion was seconded and passed.
The Treasurer's report was
presented as follows and accepted.
Balance 9/4/2007 $ 4,187.47
Dues Received $ 1,080.00
Expenses:
Donuts, Coffee, & OJ $ 25.57
Postage 137.50
Plaque - Lister of Year 108.28
Plaque Logo Plate 5.35
VTC - Annual Mtg. Exp. 1,030.50
Total
Expenses $1,307.20
Ending Balance 10/31/2007 $
3,960.27
Total memberships paid to date
for 2007-2008 118
Attendance at the Annual Meeting
was between 85-90 with 78 signed in for lunch.
Tom Vickery spoke on Current Use. Originally, Tom was going to represent VALA's viewpoint on Current Use issues, abuses, etc. at the Current Use Task Force hearing which would follow the VALA meeting. He was contacted by Rep. Clarkson that they didn't want to hear Tom's presentation because that was not the direction that the Task Force wanted to go. The Task Force was formed to counter a move in the Legislature to curtail some exemptions because of the probability of having to raise taxes. Some members of the Legislature feel that the money given out in programs such as Current Use is creating a tax rate increase. The Task Force is made up of 15 members, over half of which are foresters—which includes the Lister on the committee. The goal is to increase the amount of land enrolled in the program—land which was previously ineligible, but there will also be more regulations. The Department of Forests and Parks are the primary motivators for management plans and the focus will be on habitat vs. timber with an emphasis on protecting areas for rare, threatened or endangered species and management of invasive plants. Allowance would be made for protection of historic sites on enrolled land. Open land would have to be brush hogged.
The direction this Task Force is taking is not what was expected. Tom wanted to show abuses in the program—people, including developers, pay thousands of dollars per acre, then enroll the land into Current Use and only pay taxes on a value of approximately $146 per acre. A comprehensive study was done with recommendations of who would be eligible to enroll, benefits, and penalties for withdrawal. The study would show that it would not hurt the farmers, or the timber parcels and would curtail the amount of benefits of R2 and V2 properties buyers would receive. But the Task Force didn't want to hear any of that information because they had a motive and an agenda they wanted passed, and anything Tom had to say would not have any effect and would only confuse them.
Rep. Clarkson said that she and the other speakers at the VALA Annual Meeting were very disappointed that Listers did not attend and testify at the public hearings and let their views be heard.
After further discussion, the consensus was to form a committee within VALA to show the alternatives to what is being railroaded through by the Legislature. Valuable information could be given to the public—identifying what the abuses and what is really happening in this program.
Tom said the main topic at the Nov. 7th meeting is dealing with penalties.
Galen reported on the Current
Use hearing he attended in White River Jct. He also commented
on the make up of the Task Force being over half foresters. There
was agreement that there was no oversight on agricultural land enrolled
in the program and changes need to be made. At present, PVR has
only three four people who administrate the program which consists of approximately
3000 14,600 parcels. Galen said that concern was expressed about the
penalties for withdrawing from the program being too low. He also
said that land that is purchased at higher than fair market value and
enrolled into Current Use should not be included in the State sales
study as it would affect the CLA. Current Use is driving up the
land prices in Vermont because of the ability of developers to buy land,
enroll into the program and pay a small percentage of property taxes
until such time as they choose to develop it.
Tom brought up the Ways and Means Committee's idea of replacing the property tax for education with an income tax for residents. There were many concerns expressed, i.e. —if income decreases so does the revenue, the State will still need a certain amount of money to fund education, so either the income tax rate will increase or they will have to draw from some other revenue source.
After more discussion, a motion
was made and seconded to form a committee with Tom Vickery as chairman
to keep abreast of Current Use issues. The motion passed.
Volunteers to serve on the committee are Louise Ferris-Burt, Pauline
Moore, Amanda Beaulieu, Camilla Roberts, Paul Wildair, and Valdine Hall.
(If I have left anyone out, please let me know.)
The committee will report to the membership at the January, 2008 meeting.
VLCT—Steve Jeffrey---absent
PVR—Bill Johnson was
not present but Bill Tobin from PVR introduced himself as a new member
of that department. He has been a contractor for 17 years, a fee
appraiser for 6 years; helped finish the reappraisal in Corinth, then
moved on to PVR as a District Advisor (formerly Glenda Nye's district).
He gave a brief overview of what is happening. Doug Lay is temporarily
filling Dave Bolton's position while still remaining as District Advisor.
Bill Hayden is filling in the position formerly held by Terry Knight.
Randy suggested that VLCT be
contacted to see what their view is on the Current Use issue.
Town Fair: Not many Listers
present—there was nothing offered for Listers except for a session
on GIS tax mapping. It was expressed by a Lister who sat
in on the workshop that not enough time was spent to adequately cover
the subject.
Election of Officers:
Vice President: Pat French
Secretary: Carol Hammond
Treasurer: Louise Ferris-Burt
It was moved that the secretary
cast one ballot for each of the above persons for the respective offices.
The motion was seconded and passed.
Committees
Education: John Vickery, Louise Ferris-Burt, Lisa Truchon, Todd LeBlanc, Janet Stowell
Legislative/Legislative Calendar: Mark Paulsen, Randy Viens, Galen Mudgett, Caroline Lockyer
Equalization/State Valuation Over-sight: Randy Viens, Tom Vickery, Ed Clodfelter
By-Laws: Pauline Moore
Microsolve/CAMA: Pauline Moore, Todd LeBlanc, John Fike, Ed Clodfelter, Noel Walker,
Louise Ferris-Burt, Chris Miele
Lister of the Year: Mark
Paulsen, Galen Mudgett, Terry Knight
Education Discussion:
There will be a 2 day Marshall & Swift workshop
The Income Approach to Value IAAO course will be offered the last week of January, 2008 in Waterbury. There is opportunity for 30-70 students—20 students at $450.00 each are needed to hold the class and break even on the cost.
There was discussion on advertising the class to meet the quota; taking money from VALA treasury for scholarships; raising VALA fees.
With fewer available avenues of training, VALA becomes more important as an educational source.
Tom Vickery moved that the
Education Committee be authorized to go forward with planning of Income
Course. The motion was seconded and passed.
NEMRC—Chris Miele
The sale of Microsolve to NEMRC has been completed; Jan Schreiber, Melanie, a programmer of Microsolve, Scott from NEMRC and Chris have met with PVR to discuss issues that need to be addressed. The survey that had been sent out by PVR was only answered by 60 towns. This was mainly to find out what version of CAMA each town was using. NEMRC can automate so they can know who has what version. Live updates can be developed.
The question was asked as to
whether the State would mandate the use of Microsolve, and the answer
is no.
Rolling Reappraisals
There was discussion on the survey that Bill Johnson had sent out to a few towns. If the state were to mandate rolling reappraisals, would that negate the need for the annual sales studies, and take care of the CLA problem?
PVR would need to increase
staff to be able to monitor reappraisals. Perhaps a separate group
should monitor since the State will be losing 400 employees over a period
of time through attrition and will not be replaced.
Please note--The next
regular meeting will be held at the Randolph Town Office on January
9, 2008 at 9:00 a.m.
With no other business to conduct,
the meeting was adjourned at 12:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Carol Hammond, Secretary